STS-2 crewmen Joe Engle (right) and Dick Truly receive the 'key to Columbia' during the STS-1 post flight press conference in Houston on April 23, 1981. The second flight of the reusable spaceship would take place in November.

garymilgromMember

Posts: 1741From: Atlanta, GA, USARegistered: Feb 2007

posted 04-19-2014 09:25 AM
Two more brave men. Thanks Ed.

noroxineMember

Posts: 82From: Registered: Mar 2009

posted 04-19-2014 10:06 AM
I'm happy to have only my car since the space shuttle key is too big for my pocket

Really great history time!

GoesTo11Member

Posts: 1132From: Denver, CO USARegistered: Jun 2004

posted 04-19-2014 11:45 PM
An under-appreciated milestone...the first men to take a spacecraft back up the hill.

onesmallstepMember

Posts: 656From: Staten Island, New York USARegistered: Nov 2007

posted 04-21-2014 11:09 AM
And Engle, by virtue of his experience with the X-15, became the only shuttle astronaut to manually control an orbiter throughout reentry and landing. Quite an achievement. Another distinction is that this was the last 'all-rookie crew' in NASA spaceflight, the agency wanting at least one veteran flyer in a crew. Of course, Engle earned his USAF astronaut wings in the X-15 but was still considered a 'rookie' NASA astronaut.

Henry HeatherbankMember

Posts: 161From: Adelaide, South AustraliaRegistered: Apr 2005

posted 04-22-2014 04:04 AM
My most favourite mission. The sense of anticipation the second time around was palpable after the success of STS 1. And the best mission decal of the entire Shuttle program, in my view. Oh, the disappointment when it became a minimum mission duration from 5 days to 2.

I remember, in the days before the Internet, being solely reliant on newspapers for coverage of the missions. I distinctly recall this photograph was published in our local newspaper: I still have the cut-out a scrapbook somewhere.